Kari Jobe
Artist: Kari Jobe
Label: Integrity Music
Length: 12 tracks, 53:52
 
It's not often that we see a "debut" CD from an artist who already has songs in heavy rotation in churches around the country. Kari Jobe is not a stranger to the worship music scene. But after two CDs with the worship team from her home church, Gateway Church in Dallas, TX, it was time for this, her solo studio debut.
 
The results should be fairly predictable. Take a young singer/songwriter and pair her with a stable of CCM/worship superstars, such as Chris Tomlin, Paul
Baloche, and Ed Cash (who produced the album and co-wrote several tracks), then put her on an established "worship label," and you can almost guess
what's going to happen before you insert the disc.
 
Those were my thoughts before I put the disc in to spin. I'm glad to admit that I was at least partially wrong.
 
The label and production team made a wise choice here to let Jobe's natural talents shine through. "Joyfully" sounds like an outtake from a Waterdeep
worship album (and yes, that's a good thing), while "My Beloved," a love ballad from Christ to His bride, the church, is tender and haunting."Everybody Needs a Little" recognizes that we all need God's love and grace, and that He is ready and willing to share that love and grace.

"No Sweeter Name" may already be familiar to listeners from the Gateway albums. While the song veers close to the "Jesus is my boyfriend in the sky"
thought process that seemed to dominate CCM pop in the late '90s and early in this decade, the Celtic overtones of the instrumentation, and the
declaration of dependence in the chorus sets it above the pack:

    You are the Light to my heart and my soul
    You are the Light to the darkness around me
    You are the hope to the hopeless and broken
    You are the only Truth and the Way.

The highlight of the album for me is "You Are For Me." It's a solo song, not a group worship song, but in personal times of prayer and meditation, this
realization that God is always for us and not against us is a welcome thing:

    I know that You are for me
    I know that You will never forsake me in my weaknesses
    I know that You have come down even if to write upon my heart
    To remind me Who You are.
 
The production *is* a bit predictable, and the big-label sheen threatens to make the disc sound too much alike from start to finish. However, there are
enough gems in the songwriting to satisfy the critics, and enough production and finesse to ensure that Christian radio should find something to play and
love.

Josh Marihugh